Jack Lamar Roberson, 43, and his daughter, Zelphia. Waycross police officers shot Roberson to death Friday. Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said the officers shot when Roberson came at them with "items used as weapons."

The two Waycross police officers who fired on and killed Jack Lamar Roberson Oct. 4 did so to protect themselves and other residents of the house where Roberson lived and will not be prosecuted, Ware County District Attorney Brad Collins said.

Officer Casey Caswell and Lt. Scott Rowell were dispatched to a home on Reed Street after Roberson’s girlfriend told a 911 operator he had swallowed two handfuls of his fluid pills, had consumed alcohol and said he wanted to die, according to recordings of her call.

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation report said that once inside the house, three officers found two women, Roberson’s mother Diane Roberson and his girlfrind Alicia Herron, Collins said.

Roberson came from the kitchen into the living room at the same time Diane Roberson screamed that her son was “grabbing knives,’’ Collins said.

The officers asked the women to leave the house as Roberson came toward them “while holding a bladed weapon in an aggressive manner,’’ Collins said.

The officers gave Roberson several commands to drop the knife, but he continued toward them with it so they used deadly force, Collins said.

Collins said he found no violation of Georgia law and found the officers actions justified under the law.

In a release, Collins said the GBI findings were confirmed by audio tapes from personal recording devices the officers were wearing.

City Police Chief Tony Tanner said the two officers have been on administrative leave since the shooting and his office will complete its own internal affairs investigation before either officer is allowed to return to work.

“We’ve got to talk with them one more time,’’ Tanner said.

The GBI investigation cleared the offices of any criminal wrongdoing, but the police department must make sure they also abided by city policy on the use of deadly force, Tanner said.

“That’s the nature of shooting cases in Georgia. You want to make sure you do everything right,’’ Tanner said.

Tanner said he is hopeful that the city manager will allow him to return the two officers to their jobs because he has been working short staffed since Roberson’s death.

“We’ve been short way too long,’’ Tanner said.

Meanwhile, the City Commission has been taking heat of its own for way too long, Commissioner Alvin Nelson said.

Nelson said he went to the scene right after he heard of the shooting and found an ugly scene with residents upset.

The city issued its own news release late last week asking Collins to release the results of the GBI investigation and his decision on prosecution. The City Commission was getting blamed for the matter dragging on without a resolution, the release said.

“I don’t know what happened. I’m just trying to make sure the job is done fair and objectively,’’ Nelson said.

The pressure on the commission is not just street talk, where the sentiment seems to be the officers used excessive force, he said.

“Every since then,’’ he said of the night of the shooting, “we’ve been hit from the pulpit from church to church.”

Diane Roberson has said that her son was unarmed and told the Times-Union that police just came into the house and shot him down.

During her call to 911, Herron said that Jack Roberson said he wanted to die and asked the operator to send an ambulance but no police. The 911 operator said that police would have to be notified but could not say whether they would respond to the house.